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As to college, college also expects 2 hours homework for each hour of class you attend per week. High school doesn't.
Another difference is that in college you spend less time in class, so you have more time to do that 6 hours of homework.
I think seven classes is a lot. Most somehow muddle through, then tell you after a few years that it was all a waste of time because they don't remember any of it.
Another difference is that in college you spend less time in class, so you have more time to do that 6 hours of homework.
I think seven classes is a lot. Most somehow muddle through, then tell you after a few years that it was all a waste of time because they don't remember any of it.
If education is about what we remember years later, it's all a waste. We forget 95% of what we learn. It's the ability to think that stays with us.
I like Golfgal's trimesters. Ivorytickler, I don't like either of the options your school is considering, but I agree with you that the shorter-periods schedule is not as bad as the trimesters (condensed semesters, really). I can speed up my math teaching, but that doesn't mean that the students can speed up their math learning.
50-minute classes must make labs hard, though. It also means more homework. Seven classes instead of six, increased homework in each, less time with the teacher, . . . I don't see that as being good for the kids either.
The problem seems to be with the graduation requirements (state, district, whichever). My nephew graduates this year in California. As a senior he is only required to take 5 classes. One of his five is piano; another is a business elective. Last year he took guitar and auto mechanics, and as a freshman or sophomore he had a cooking class. I kept wondering when he would take his required classes, but I guess they were in there somewhere. (He did have two years of foreign language and math through Algebra 2, but I don't know if he had even one lab science.)
From what I've seen, California has very few required classes compared to other states. Foreign language is not a state requirement. I don't know if Algebra 2 is or not.
Another difference is that in college you spend less time in class, so you have more time to do that 6 hours of homework.
I think seven classes is a lot. Most somehow muddle through, then tell you after a few years that it was all a waste of time because they don't remember any of it.
True but with most classes being 3 credits or more, a student would be carrying 21 credits on a 7 day schedule. Most classes are 3 credits and you'd be expected to do 6 hours of homework. So to be the equivalent of college, a student would need to do 4 hours of homework per class he's taking or a total of 28 hours of homework per week. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a high school student who does half of that and, rightfully so. If we assigned homework like college does, we'd need to cut back to about a 4 period day...which would work for me, lol.
Seriously, I'd be happy if I could get my students to do 2 hours of homework a week but, realistically, if every teacher does that, then they have 14 hours of homework on top of 35 hours of school. That's a bit much.
True but with most classes being 3 credits or more, a student would be carrying 21 credits on a 7 day schedule. Most classes are 3 credits and you'd be expected to do 6 hours of homework. So to be the equivalent of college, a student would need to do 4 hours of homework per class he's taking or a total of 28 hours of homework per week. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a high school student who does half of that and, rightfully so. If we assigned homework like college does, we'd need to cut back to about a 4 period day...which would work for me, lol.
Seriously, I'd be happy if I could get my students to do 2 hours of homework a week but, realistically, if every teacher does that, then they have 14 hours of homework on top of 35 hours of school. That's a bit much.
Keep in mind that your experience is not the norm. Our kids now have about 2 hours/homework on most nights, more on some less on others. DS15 had a few tests today and got his Spanish done in class so he doesn't have any homework tonight but spent about 3 hours yesterday doing homework and studying for tests. Last year the kids that took AP World History at our school had 3-4 hours of homework EACH NIGHT.
True but with most classes being 3 credits or more, a student would be carrying 21 credits on a 7 day schedule. Most classes are 3 credits and you'd be expected to do 6 hours of homework. So to be the equivalent of college, a student would need to do 4 hours of homework per class he's taking or a total of 28 hours of homework per week. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a high school student who does half of that and, rightfully so. If we assigned homework like college does, we'd need to cut back to about a 4 period day...which would work for me, lol.
Seriously, I'd be happy if I could get my students to do 2 hours of homework a week but, realistically, if every teacher does that, then they have 14 hours of homework on top of 35 hours of school. That's a bit much.
I don't think it's reasonable for 14 year olds to be able to carry the same workload as college students.
Last year the kids that took AP World History at our school had 3-4 hours of homework EACH NIGHT.
What were they doing? My son took AP World last year and the only work he had to do for AP World was to read and study. It was not 3-4 hours a night. He currently has AP American and my other son has AP Human Geography. In Human Geography my son has to hand in notecards for each unit but other than that there is very little homework in that class either.
AP Chemistry is a little more assignment intensive. There is graded homework and the lab reports are also graded.
What were they doing? My son took AP World last year and the only work he had to do for AP World was to read and study. It was not 3-4 hours a night. He currently has AP American and my other son has AP Human Geography. In Human Geography my son has to hand in notecards for each unit but other than that there is very little homework in that class either.
AP Chemistry is a little more assignment intensive. There is graded homework and the lab reports are also graded.
The teacher went a little overboard with the material. She wanted more kids to get 5's on their tests. It's one of those classes that the kids LOVE the class/HATE the homework but they take it anyway because the teacher is so interesting (former CIA).
Keep in mind that your experience is not the norm. Our kids now have about 2 hours/homework on most nights, more on some less on others. DS15 had a few tests today and got his Spanish done in class so he doesn't have any homework tonight but spent about 3 hours yesterday doing homework and studying for tests. Last year the kids that took AP World History at our school had 3-4 hours of homework EACH NIGHT.
2 hours a night is pretty typical for us but that's about 4 hours a week short of 2 hours per class. Most teachers don't assign homework over the weekend. That's time for the kids to catch up if they need to.
AP classes have a lot more homework. You cannot cover half of the material in a 50 minute lecture period. I don't doubt kids in AP do 14+ hours a week of homework. Unfortunately, to teach college prep chemistry well, I'd need my students doing about 3-4 hours a week of homework just for my class. That's hard to assign if they have 6 other classes with teachers assigning homework too.
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